Disneyland champions gay rights in Japan

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Why is Japan so behind when it comes to LGBT rights? Japan is a wealthy first world country, yet it lags behind other Asian countries like Thailand, Taiwan and Nepal when it comes to LGBT Human rights. It should be leading the way and setting an example.

I really hope that they move forward with LGB rights soon. They’re one of the leaders in the economic world, they’re probably the top country in the technology world, and they’re huge in the pro wrestling world. I’ve though about living in Japan someday, and it would be nice to be equal if I decide to :)

Japan does not “still” consider homosexuality a taboo. It was quite common until the US and UK decided that the Western view on it suited Japan better. Until around 1850, there was no taboo.

And an approximation to marriage *is* working in Japan as it is possible to be registered as an adopted son or daughter in the family register that every family must maintain. It is of course not equal marriage as we see it here, but it is a different culture.

Most of what is going on there is a question of “honne and tatamae” which equals an “as long as we pretend it is not going on, it is not going on, but we all know that it is”-kind of notion and it applies to this recent fear of homosexuality as well.

The thing is that those in connection with the Japanese LGBT that I know do not *want* any attention paid to the matter, hence the slow development in rights. You can’t force people to fight a fight they’re basically not interested in.

Walt Disney himself was famously homophobic, and his company has been much the same ever since. Whilst projecting a corporate image of quality family values, they have been ruthless in their control. Their parks are privately managed so even local police cannot enter, and there has been a number of coverups of deaths on rides and assaults and rapes within their grounds.

While Disneyland in Japan support gay rights, I wonder where is Japan in the recent UN summit at Geneva to support gay rights as human rights. Thailand and South Korea voted in favour of the move. Japan remained silent about this. Could use more support from Asian countries to make a change for gay community globally.

In Japan this issue has been under the table for years now. As far as legal rights go, LGBT people are still being discriminated against but this has nothing to do with the public opinion. If you are gay in Japan, people are just surprised because they don’t meet many gay people in their daily lives and many still think that gay is a western thing.
However this ignorance isn’t born out of hatred towards homosexuality. They’re ignorant because no one has brought up the issue of gay rights in the mainstream media…yet. Younger generation in Japan is much more accepting of homosexuality than the older generation. Also there is no conflict of religion in Japan which makes it easier to be gay over there IF YOU are openly out.

Things need to change in Japan but if you compare it to the U.S for example, there is much less hatred towards gay people in Japan. The subject has just been a non-issue until now.

Im unnaturally happy that this happened. I dont care if its all about good publicity for Disney, I just think it will be great if local companies in Japan follow Disneyland Japan and promote LGBT rights, might make the Japanese government sit up and listen

From what I understand, the nature of heterosexism in Japan is not from the simple aversion to homosexuality (which is very common in entertainment media), but from the cynical expectations of filial piety – you marry to honor your parents, and your parents want to be able to approve of who you marry. And in the corporate sector, there is a social bias that favors people who are married and have started families. But most marriages in Japan are arrangements of mutual convenience, and marriage is considered a time when your affectionate life has ended. In a society where most women’s hearts melt at a same-sex romance and men read lesbian porn in public, it seems like the main difficulty is in breaking with tradition and relaxing the strict parent-centric expectations of filial piety without thinking any less of the children for it. …easier said than done, as filial piety is one of the most sacred cultural ethics in most of east Asia.

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